The Founder of Intercontinental International Hotel Group and Its Brief Introduction

Since 1952 founded the first holiday hotel, in less than 20 years, he has opened 1000 holiday hotels all over the United States and all over the world, thus making Holiday Inn Group the first hotel group with a scale of 100 billion US dollars.

It is exciting to recall the establishment and expansion of Holiday Inn.

Despite such impressive achievements, kemmons wilson is still tireless, constantly improving and never satisfied.

As his good friend said, "wherever he goes, he will find something."

"

First, poor families

He was orphaned soon after he was born.

191365438+1October 5th, kemmons wilson was born in osceola, a small town in the northwest of Memphis.

His father, Charles Kay Mons Wilson, worked as a fireman and clerk in the Navy, and later left the Navy to work for the National Life and Accident Insurance Company, selling insurance.

Because of my excellent work, I accepted the appointment of the company at 19 12 and went to osceola, where I opened an office.

His mother, Dole Wilson, was born in a very poor family in Memphis. When she was in her teens, she went to a grocery store as a salesgirl.

When their little boy was born, the young and ambitious insurance agent and his bride seemed to have a bright future.

They named their son Charles Kay Mons Wilson Jr.

However, just nine months later, tragedy suddenly came.

Kemmons, a 29-year-old man, is seriously ill, suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, an incurable disease, and the nerve cells that dominate muscle movement have pathological degeneration, which is very painful.

1 9131kloc-0/October 4th, he died before he could see his son1birthday, leaving Dole, a widow and single mother, at the age of 18.

Old Kemmons foresaw that he bought a policy with a insured price of $2,000 before his death and paid Dole compensation after his death.

This money is a considerable sum in 19 13.

However, when dealing with Dole, an immoral seller of funeral supplies took advantage of the young widow's sadness and persuaded her to hold a funeral for her dead husband, thus consuming all the money obtained under the insurance policy.

Old Kemmons's grave was full of charm, but after the funeral, Dole had almost nothing.

It was at that time and place that a widow of 18 years old was almost penniless, but she made up her mind that no hardship could stop her from raising her son and cultivating him into a person who would make achievements in the future and leave a mark on the world.

Dole returned to Memphis with her children and lived with her mother at 336 Watkins North Street.

In the days before receiving the subsidy, Dole had no choice but to go out to work to support himself and his young son.

Wilson later recalled, "My mother got a job as a dental assistant with a weekly salary of 1 1 USD.

Later, she became a bookkeeper.

However, her monthly income never exceeded $65,438 +025.

Can you imagine this situation? Looking back on that year, what a difficult time it was. It seems like a year has passed! "

Start working to earn money from an early age.

While kemmons wilson was growing up, one of the most severe periods in American history reached a difficult peak.

Although the sudden collapse of the American stock market in the late 1920s marked the beginning of the Great Depression, hard times actually began many years ago.

As early as 1923, on average, two banks failed every day in the United States.

In the worst years of the economic crisis, one-third of the workers in the country could not find a job.

In Memphis and other large and small cities in China, people can often be seen waiting in long queues for relief food.

Wilson began to work to make money when he was young.

His first job was advertising for "cream bakery", and he earned 5 dollars.

At the age of six, he found a relatively stable job, that is, selling the Saturday Post at a price of 5 cents each.

Within a few months, he found that the price of Women's Family magazine was 10 cents per copy, and he could be the regional manager of the newspaper and hire other children to sell it for him.

Wilson soon found a dozen children from the community where he lived to sell magazines for him.

Every time a magazine sells a copy, it earns 3 cents, including 2 cents for the person who sells the magazine for him, and he 1 cent.

He can calculate, plan and motivate others to work hard at such a young age.

Later, Wilson found some profitable jobs, such as making rocking chairs in the basement of an uncle's house at night and loading food for the grocery store.

He himself said, "I have done all kinds of temporary jobs you can think of."

I am the worst student in the world, because I always feel tired, because I work whenever I have time.

I fell asleep as soon as I got to school.

"

Unfortunately, I had an accident on the way to take delivery.

When kemmons wilson 14 years old, he got a job at Wagner's grocery store at the corner of Madison Avenue and Bell Weddell Avenue, working as a deliveryman and a salesperson in a cold drink cooler.

One advantage of this job is that you can eat as much ice cream as you want.

One night, when he was working in this grocery store, he was ordered to deliver the goods to Bill Terry, a first baseman of the New York Giants and an outstanding baseball star.

Terry lives in willett Street, a few blocks south of this grocery store.

He jumped on his bike and rode to his destination.

As soon as Wilson rode to the intersection of Bell Weddell Street and Union Street, he felt a strong force coming at him and knocking him down in the middle of the street.

Wilson lay on the ground, at a loss.

His left leg was badly injured and there were five fractures.

The doctor who saw him for the first time said that he could never walk again.

But later, a brilliant plastic surgeon, Dr. Willis Campbell, examined him and said, "Kemmons, I will let you walk again.

"Sure enough, the doctor was right, and what he said came true.

At that time, Wilson was afraid.

However, Dr. Campbell's self-confidence made him restrain his fears.

I was hospitalized for 4 months, and my body was plastered with 1 1 month.

Dole, the mother, used her rest time during her work in the meat packaging factory to go to the hospital and take care of her son's ward and help with her homework.

With her caring attention and sincere prayer, and under the careful treatment of Dr. Campbell, Wilson was finally able to walk again.

Although one of his legs was still 2 inches shorter than the other, it was the first year after the accident. Wilson believes that after this difficult exercise, getting back on his feet and making a comeback is of great significance to his later life, and he has also greatly exercised himself, so that when the difficult years of the Great Depression frightened countless Americans, he not only survived, but also showed the keen insight and indomitable dedication of a natural entrepreneur.

Second, the hardships of starting a business

/kloc-started to operate popcorn and pinball machines at the age of 0/7.

Kemmons and the popcorn machine he bought on credit for $50.

So much for all his assets when he started his business.

In the first few months of 1930, the disaster of economic crisis quickly spread to the whole United States.

Dole Wilson also joined the expanding army of unemployed people.

At that time, kemmons wilson was in the last year of central middle school, and he made a decision: it's time for him to find a job to earn money and shoulder the burden of bringing home the bacon.

In this way, at the age of 17, he made up his mind to get rid of poverty.

"I don't know what I want to do. All I know is that I want to get rid of poverty.

I know I must work hard to make money.

"

After leaving school, Wilson got a job and wrote the latest stock price on the blackboard in a brokerage company, with a weekly salary of $65,438 +02.

Soon he became a bookkeeper, and his weekly salary was still $ 12, while that of other bookkeepers was $35.

He asked for a pay increase, but he was only given an increase of $3 a week.

So he left his job.

Wilson said, "For the first time in my life, I work full-time for others.

And the last time.

"

Young Wilson is not going to work for others, so he has to use his head to find a way.

He always likes watching movies, and often goes to Memphis Theatre to do odd jobs, so that he can watch feature films for free.

One day, he had an idea. He found that the cinema didn't sell snacks for the audience to enjoy while watching the movie. He thought it was an opportunity to open up the market for himself.

So, he went to the manager of Memphis Theatre, and the manager went to his boss. They finally decided to let him put a popcorn machine in front of the theater.

Wilson bought a popcorn machine in installments of $50.

He started selling popcorn for five cents a bag, and his business was booming, making a net profit of forty or fifty dollars a week.

The manager of Memphis Theatre only earns $25 a week. The manager will calculate the number of popcorn sold. He was jealous. He felt that he had suffered. He asked Wilson to step aside, and he had to do it himself.

Wilson had to leave, indignant: "I want to open my own movie theater, so no one will take my popcorn machine away."

"A few years later, Wilson really did it.

After giving up popcorn, Wilson first started to run a pinball machine.

After he was forced to sell the popcorn machine to the theater manager, he used the money to buy five second-hand pinball machines, each worth 10.

He put these pinball machines in busy places, such as grocery stores and hotel lounges.

Wilson has been very busy. Once he has accumulated $65,438+00, he will buy another pinball machine and find a place to put it.

He once said, "I don't like playing pinball machine myself." What I like is the money earned by the pinball machine.

"The following is an episode.

Wilson has a pinball machine in William Lane Hotel. He comes here about twice a week to check the pinball machine and charge a fee.

One day, Wilson came again.

There, a young woman named Sarah boswell set up a cigarette stand. She said to him, "Kemmons, I know you don't have that much money, but if you are willing to spend another nickel, I will introduce you to a girl. She will be the smartest girl you have ever met.

"Wilson said," well, I'm willing to spend the five cents.

So she introduced Wilson to Dorothy Lee, who later became Wilson's wife.

Run a cinema

Kemmons wilson has always wanted to run his own cinema.

When he learned that there was a cinema waiting for sale, he used his rapidly growing creativity and eloquence, raised the necessary funds, and finally established his own cinema.

This cinema is located in a community on the Mississippi River in the suburb of Memphis. It's called De Soto Cinema, which has been closed for many years.

After Wilson went to observe, he went to the cinema owner.

The shopkeeper asked for $2,000, which Wilson thought was acceptable, on condition that he could not pay until the cinema reopened, and paid $25 a week until he paid off $2,000.

The owner of the cinema agreed.

Then, Wilson went to the national theater supply company run by Bob Bostic, and provided extremely valuable help when Wilson ran the cinema.

That day, Bostic sold Wilson $4,000 worth of equipment, all on credit.

In this way, Wilson once again started a new career without any initial payment.

Wilson's first cinema, due to proper management, is quite prosperous.

So, with Bostic's strong support, he built a brand-new cinema at the corner of Memphis leading to the airport and Lamar Avenue, which was successful again.

Since then, Wilson has opened one cinema after another. In a few years, 1 1 cinema has been opened.

During this period, Wilson worked at least 15 hours a day, running popcorn, pinball machines and cinemas.

In addition, he also founded various other early profitable enterprises. One is the distribution of Seeburg brand phonograph and Wolitzer brand phonograph, and the other is the operation of cigarette makers to sell cigarettes.

Wilson later recalled: "The most exciting thing in the world is starting a business.

Lay a good foundation and then build a building on it.

"

Set foot in real estate at the age of 20

Kemmons wilson's mother kept telling him how much she longed for a house of her own.

1933 By the time Wilson was 20 years old, he had saved enough money to build a house for his mother.

So Wilson paid $65,438+$0,000 to buy a piece of land in Popolla Street, and spent $65,438+$0,700 to build a house, which cost a total of $2,700.

That place was undeveloped at that time. It was actually a rural area, but later it became one of the busiest and densest commercial areas in Memphis.

He used the house as collateral and got a loan of $6,500.

This incident gave Wilson a great enlightenment, and the real estate industry contains unlimited business opportunities.

He said, "If I can buy a piece of land for $65,438+0,000, build a house for $65,438+0,700, and then borrow $6,500 as collateral, that's exactly what I want to do.

"So, from that day on, Wilson became a real estate agent.

Wilson knew almost nothing about building such a house, but he never worried.

He said it well: "as long as you are good at finding others to do things for you, there is nothing too difficult."

You find someone who can build a house.

Find another person who can lay the pipeline.

All you have to do is pack everything.

"

Although Wilson is not an expert in housing construction, his recent discovery has given him a solid advantage in housing construction for many years.

It is found that the central space around the house is not as expensive as the space outside the house, so the central space can be used to expand the area of the house, so that the average cost per square foot can be reduced to about 2 dollars.

Since a house of 65,438+0,000 square meters is to be built, it is possible to make the house reach 65,438+0,500 square meters as long as all rooms are expanded, while the cost of laying pipes, installing wires, doors and windows has hardly changed. This is why the increased housing cost per square foot is relatively low.

Wilson's discovery also made him buy all the properties as soon as he saw the bargain.

In the 1930s, such opportunities were numerous and ubiquitous.

By the end of 1930s, Wilson had bought real estate in Memphis, with a total value of over $4 million.

He is no longer a poor boy with only one popcorn machine.

Joined the army after getting married at the age of 28.

Kemmons wilson had made great achievements before he was 30 years old, including real estate, cinema, pinball machine, cigarette machine, distribution of phonograph and so on.

He has become one of the most determined and successful young entrepreneurs in Memphis.

In order to take care of various enterprises, he drove a Chevrolet pickup truck and came and went in the city day and night, which became a landscape in Memphis at that time.

194 1 65438+On February 2nd, 2008, Wilson and the young girl Dorothy formally got married.

After the wedding, they went to Peabody and held a party until about 1 1 that evening.

Later, they left for Orleans to attend the Wurlitzer phonograph conference, when they were still on their honeymoon.

A few days after Wilson's wedding, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and the Pacific War broke out.

Wilson knows that he will do military service and he can fly a plane, so he wants to join the Air Force and become a pilot.

Later, his wish came true. After passing the exam, he became a flight officer of the United States Air Transport Command.

Wilson spent about two or three years in the Fourth Air Transport Brigade in Memphis.

During this period, he flew various types of planes and flew all over the United States.

1944, the US Air Force sent Wilson halfway around the world to take part in the hardest airlift in World War II.

This kind of air transport is called "air transport over hump", and its purpose is to make China continue to stand on the side of the United States and its allies and fight the Japanese in the great war.

But the Japanese occupied many places in China, and actually controlled almost all the passages into China.

The only way to enter China is to fly a plane, take off from Upper Assam, fly over the Himalayas, cross the tropical jungle of Myanmar and enter the southwest of China.

This air corridor, later called "Hump", is a very dangerous route.

Wilson is one of the pilots who flew over the hump.

By the end of World War II, more than 600 transport planes crashed and 65,438+0,000 pilots died while flying over the hump.

Wilson survived the difficulties, stood the test, got exercise and became stronger.